10 years ago - The Times
Monday, December 22, 2008
Police averted ‘massacre’ in Mqabba shooting
It was only the presence of the police that prevented a massacre from being committed by Carmel Saliba, a magistrate heard yesterday as Mr Saliba was charged with the attempted murder of 20 people at the PN club in Mqabba onSaturday night.
Mr Saliba, 31, from Kirkop, was remanded in custody after pleading not guilty to the attempted murder of the people who were inside the club by firing several shots in their direction from outside.
Standing before presiding magistrate Joseph Apap Bologna, Mr Saliba also denied seriously injuring Sylvana Callus and Omar Cucciardi and slightly injuring nine people, aged between 21 and 37, who were in the club at the time of the shooting.
In his request for bail, legal aid lawyer Martin Fenech told the court that his client had left the club after an argument broke out inside. However, when he returned in his car, he found the doors closed.
“He shot at the closed door – he never intended to kill or hurt anyone,” argued Dr Fenech.
In fact, he explained, people were injured because they happened to be near the shut door. “It was just his bad luck that he hurt people when he fired the shots.”
25 years ago - The Times
Wednesday, December 22, 1993
Two die tragically
Two persons met a tragic end yesterday, one in a swimming pool, the other in the sea.
The first, 31-year-old Briton Dave Power, was found in the swimming pool of Speranza Holiday Complex of Lija, at 3.30pm.
An autopsy established that Mr Power died of asphyxia from drowning.
Radio reports in the morning had said Mr Power had been found dead with signs of violence on him but the autopsy established Mr Power had no such signs.
Staff at the complex would not answer media questions yesterday.
Contacts between the Maltese and British police showed Mr Power was asthmatic and had stopped taking medical care.
The police had in the morning been looking for a couple in connection with the case but the search for them was abandoned after the autopsy, whose final results will be made known after toxicological tests.
In the other case, the corpse was that of a woman in her forties from Siġġiewi.
A report that something was seen floating just off Wied iż-Żurrieq was made to the police at about 1pm.
The woman had black hair and a fair complexion and her body had not been in the water for long.
There were no visible signs of violence.
Half a century ago - Sunday Times of Malta
Sunday, December 22, 1968
Maltese artist featured in foreign art review
A young artist who is exhibiting one of his paintings at the current Human Rights exhibition in Valletta is preparing for his one-man exhibition at the museum.
He is Mr Charles Cassar, who has just returned from abroad after several years and is therefore not yet known to the public.
He studied art at the government school of art under Mr Mangion and in 1946 won a four-year scholarship and proceeded to London to follow a special painting course at the Croydon School of Art.
The following year he was accepted at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome to attend the third year of a four-year course leading to the Diploma di Licenza. He obtained the diploma and was awarded the Gold Medal “per lo studio del bianco e nero”.
He then returned to Croydon, this time to follow a special printing course. He has now returned to Malta where he has a studio in St Ursula Street, Valletta. He has recently been appointed art master at Maria Assumpta Secondary Technical School.
He has taken part in exhibitions in Rome and in London. In Malta he took part twice in the triennial exhibition organised by the Society of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce.